Research

Whole-genome screening indicates a possible burst of formation of processed pseudogenes and Alu repeats by particular L1 subfamilies in ancestral primates

Kazuhiko Ohshima¹, Masahira Hattori^2,3, Tetsusi Yada⁴, Takashi Gojobori⁵, Yoshiyuki Sakaki^2,4 and Norihiro Okada^1*

• * Corresponding author: Norihiro Okada nokada@bio.titech.ac.jp

Author Affiliations

¹ School and Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 226-8501, Japan

² RIKEN Genomic Sciences Center, 1-7-22, Suehiro Tsurumi, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan

³ Laboratory of Genome Information, Kitasato Institute for Life Science, Kitasato University, 1-15-1, Kitasato, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 228-8555, Japan

⁴ Human Genome Center, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan

⁵ Center for Information Biology and DNA Data Bank of Japan, National Institute of Genetics, Yata 1111, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan

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Genome Biology 2003, 4:R74 doi:10.1186/gb-2003-4-11-r74

Published: 28 October 2003

Abstract

Background

Abundant pseudogenes are a feature of mammalian genomes. Processed pseudogenes (PPs) are reverse transcribed from mRNAs. Recent molecular biological studies show that mammalian long interspersed element 1 (L1)-encoded proteins may have been involved in PP reverse transcription. Here, we present the first comprehensive analysis of human PPs using all known human genes as queries.

Results

The human genome was queried and 3,664 candidate PPs were identified. The most abundant were copies of genes encoding keratin 18, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and ribosomal protein L21. A simple method was developed to estimate the level of nucleotide substitutions (and therefore the age) of PPs. A Poisson-like age distribution was obtained with a mean age close to that of the Alu repeats, the predominant human short interspersed elements. These data suggest a nearly simultaneous burst of PP and Alu formation in the genomes of ancestral primates. The peak period of amplification of these two distinct retrotransposons was estimated to be 40-50 million years ago. Concordant amplification of certain L1 subfamilies with PPs and Alus was observed.

Conclusions

We suggest that a burst of formation of PPs and Alus occurred in the genome of ancestral primates. One possible mechanism is that proteins encoded by members of particular L1 subfamilies acquired an enhanced ability to recognize cytosolic RNAs in trans.